ELM PARK — A landlord, his wife and a locksmith were arrested and charged with assault on Friday after an eviction attempt turned into a brawl outside a Staten Island apartment.
Court documents said that the brawl started when Chiusano broke a ceramic frog over the head of the tenant outside the home.
After that, Passalaqua allegedly cracked the tenant and the man over the head with a pipe, and Spalliero repeatedly stabbed the man in the back with a screwdriver, court documents said.
"It was just chaos," said a witness, who did not want to give his name, after the fight.
Chiusano told DNAinfo New York Tuesday she was the one who originally got hit with the frog.
While waiting outside for the marshal to evict their tenant, Chiusano said she went to check a mailbox she has outside the building. The tenant’s daughter cracked her over the head with the planter.
“She came crashing down on me with a planter,” she said. “As I fell, she started beating on my body.”
Chiusano said she blacked out and woke up as cops arrested her husband and Spalliero, who she said they hired to change the locks.
She said she went along with her husband to the police station, and was shocked when she was charged Friday.
The tenant and her boyfriend were transported to Richmond University Medical Center for head trauma and a stab wound, fire officials said.
Chiusano said she threw up on the way home and went to the doctors and was treated for a concussion.
"I'm having trouble focusing. I can't drive, I'm in the house," said Chiusano.
Passalaqua, Chiusano and Spallier were charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment, the Staten Island Advance originally reported. Passalaqua and Chiusano were released on their own recognizance, and Spalliero’s bail was set at $1,500.
Chiusano said they were evicting the tenant for failure to pay rent for five months, and this was the third time they had tried to get her out.
“I didn't go there to start any trouble,” she said. “I went to have them leave and go on with my life.”
All three are due back in court on June 20.
